I always consider YAM LARANAS as a visionary director, especially in the horror/suspense thriller genre. I admire his braveness in making atypical storylines for Pinoy audience. In my opinion, his movies were not really mainstream but obviously were starred in by mainstream actors and produced by mainstream film studios (mostly Viva/GMA Films). I've seen his previous films like RADYO (about a serial killer and a radio disc jock), The ROAD (about a serial killer and the story behind a haunted road), SIGAW (about a haunted building), Patient X (about an aswang patient) and Ikaw Lang Hanggang Ngayon (romantic comedy). It's been a while since his last film so I was so thrilled to see that his latest opus AURORA made the cut in this 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival.
AURORA tells the story of a passenger ship that has run into the rocks off the coast of a desolate island. It lost numerous lives and the families of the lost passengers still hoped to recover the dead bodies of their loved ones. Leana (Anne Curtis) owns a seafront hotel in the island where the shipwreck happened. She lives with her younger sister Rita (Phoebe Villamor) and tries to make ends meet by having their house as a base for rescue and operations. Leana engages in a clandestine agreement with some families of the dead passengers to continue the search operations to earn extra money. This is when the haunted truths start to surface.
Strengths:
AURORA is visually top-notch. Director Yam Laranas has not lost his Midas touch in cinematography. It's creepy when it's creepy. It's dark when it's dark. It's bleak when it's bleak. The underwater scenes are cogent. The camera shots are impressive.
The opening sequence is Hollywoodish. The magic realism of the scenes where Leana’s house is juxtaposing inside AURORA is commendable.
The orchestral musical score sets the eerie sensation. The daunting music is not common in Pinoy horror or suspense thriller movies I've seen in the last 15 years or so.
The actors delivered a passable performance. Anne Curtis has improved a lot. In this movie, she's relatable as an island lass. Good thing the Aussie twang isn't recognizable anymore when she delivers her line. The supporting cast members' portrayals are convincingly good too. Kudos to Phoebe Villamor, Marco Gumabao, Allan Paule, Arnold Reyes, Mercedes Cabral, Sue Prado to name a few.
Weaknesses:
The "suspense" factor in some scenes is a bit dragging. The first act is a bit sluggish. The characterization has inconsistencies too. For example, Leana's character at the start is gray but leans towards goodness in the third act of the film. The motivation of Leana’s character is incoherent. The screenplay decided to portray Leana as the morally anchored protagonist. And this for me makes it a “mainstream” movie characterization.
Also, in the third act, how in the world the cadavers of the AURORA victims appear to be un-bloated,
un-decayed and in fresh state knowing that several weeks have passed after the shipwreck happened? Another what the F moment is, how in the world the huge AURORA ship has been totally swept by the waves and was invisible just like that? I believe, the ending is not really well-thought out.
AURORA is not your Filipino traditional scare movie. It’s more atmospheric and moody.
The film AURORA showed promise (especially in the technical aspect) at the start but sadly failed to sustain its distinction at the end.
My rating: 7/10
image courtesy of Viva Films
